no one can live life in loneliness, only stars in the sky far away... [WELCOME everyone from everywhere, with intention or by accident - THIS BLOG IS BEST VIEWED IN WEB VERSION FORMAT as its how I envision it to be with the text and photos but still any layout format will work just fine.]

Saturday, January 25, 2014

I went to the ROXY for something else, then I realise I had not visited this record/cd store for a long time.I guess this music store is now 51 or 52 years old this year, family sort of way I guess. I remembered them from their Funan days, now they are at Excelsior, a bit secluded place, but music lovers will know their current place well.Those of you whether in Singapore, or Malaysia or anywhere,- if you have never visited Roxy, do give them a visit the next time you "Shop or Window Shop/Ogle" at all the displays of the shops at Peninsular Shopping Centre and nearby connected malls. Maybe one day I want to blog about a tribute to Roxy Music. Its a time machine, if you miss those music shops with records and cds stack up all over the place, music and releases and bands that you dont know even exist, and just spend quality time exploring music of all kind, this is the place. This is like one of the staff Mr Seah says is the "TIME MACHINE" place. You are transported back in time.For the time you are in this store, you just forgot MP3s, Youtubes, illegal downloads, or whatever exist. A place where you hold all types of rarities, boxsets, cds, vinyls, in your hands.
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ok, so I got this.

SAXON - Unplugged and Strung Up digipak double cd where the 2nd cd is actually the Heavy Metal Thunder album.

I am not a huge fan of SAXON, I often miss out on their developments, so this digipak release gives me a chance to update myself with the current SAXON lineup and get some of their biggest and famous songs updated, re-energised for my listening pleasure.

FIRST TIME I ever heard and known of SAXON is as a primary school boy coming across a bootleg cassette tape of the Original Monsters Of Rock Festival. Saxon was on it with a song called Backs To The Wall.
The cassette tape that triggered my curiosity of what Castle Donington Park is all about and I know one day I want to go this place and see my favourite bands play there and I did reach it.
Saxon song "and the band played on" is a song written for Donington Park Monsters Of Rock the first time they played there, the very first Monsters Of Rock ever, with Riot, Judas Priest, The Scorpions, T-O-U-C-H and of course the most greatest RAINBOW headlining.
I had never seen Saxon play live, there was a time they are schedule to play at a festival I attended at a very early time and I dont bother to come that early even to see Saxon. Maybe next time.

cd 1- is 14 songs from different eras of Saxon which is over 30 years, that either is REMIXED or RE-RECORDED or PLAYED LIVE ACOUSTICALLY, or re-released as ORCHESTRA VERSIONs or ACOUSTIC versions.

cd 2 - (Heavy Metal Thunder) is 13 of their songs from the FIRST SIX albums re-recorded with the current line up and originally released in 2002. Very very good recordings and performances on the Heavy Metal Thunder cd.

Of course I prefer the more heavy, loud, heavy rock of cd 2.

CD2 has among others
-the CRUSADER. The song that is about the CRUSADES from the point of view of the Crusaders. Anyway its a nice song, I wont dive too much into it. I just enjoy it. Brilliant song.

this is also the only song that appears twice on both cd as different versions.
So basically you get 26 different songs from SAXON.

CD2 has among my most old favourites like Crusader, Power & The Glory, 747 (Strangers In The Night), Dallas 1PM (which is about the JFK assassination), and of course many sing-alongs like Motorcycle Man, Denim & Leather etc.

CD1 has among my most favourites, the faster, heavier ones like Stallions of the Highway and Forever Free and also the nice acoustic of Frozen Rainbow.

This is a good buy if you like SAXON, or want to know about them.Its very traditional, classic heavy metal, very the ROCK MAMPOS!!

Iron Maiden(of course), Black Sabbath, AC/DC, Ritchie Blackmore's RAINBOW, Megadeth, Nightwish etc etc in an 11 DAYS Madness backpacking, little sleep, alone thru England & Germany thousands of km by Planes/Trains/Buses and lots of walking thru muddy watery floods and rain. I will also add additional details on how to get to some of these rocking places. Reports and photos to be updated whenever I got the chance. Click some of the event tshirts above to get direct to these related "Rock Europe 2016" postings..

SOME IRON MAIDEN SHOWS ARE FOR ME TO GO ""MENTAL"", WHILE SOME OTHER shows are for me to be like a mouse & to try to take photos and be more focus on each member of the band, analyse their performance as a fan and the show itself. This is a Maiden show that I did not went "MENTAL. LOL!!. So lots of pretty photos that I like and doesnt matter if no one else like it. As usual click Steve Harris above

How To Travel alone To Hellfest, Clisson Nantes France and all the good and bad that comes with it?

Click the above backprint of the tshirt to see how I travel alone to Hellfest without knowing any French using public transportation, choosing to sleep in Nantes nightly, and all the many mistakes that I made, which hurts my budget LOL!!!

Click the Maiden England poster above for the still INCOMPLETE report of my backpacking travels to Donington Park Download Festival, Birmingham, London, and Frankfurt to see some really awesome bands in some awesome places with awesome crowds

I try to photograph Maiden in the madhouse environment of their first night in Frankfurt 2013

As the previous tour, the photos I took may not be nice to other peoples eyes, but I love every each of these results, click Steve Harris above for their 2013 in action photos. Sadly not as many as the 200 photos I took of them in action across Australia in 2011.

Scream For Me Donington!!

How did I travel to Donington Park daily by staying at Derby instead of camping.

Click above photo of Iron Maiden headlining on the second day for 2013 festival. Donington Download Festival Logistics is amazing for me, as the crowd can hit near 100,000

Would be nice if Maiden plays South East Asia for this very special Maiden England tour but ....

11 June 2013 Frankfurt Germany

12 June 2013 Frankfurt Germany

15 June 2013 Donington Park UK

xx xx 2013 Malaysia

xx xx 2013 Singapore

It begins with a dream... I dont think I can ever repeat this adventure again

I am so happy with each photo because I have always wondered how its like to capture photos of Maiden on stage and I did it although I am using a cheap, easy to smuggle in, easy to hide from security, small point and shoot camera and trying to stand still in a sea of madness.

its " www.deafeningforever.blogspot.com ". Last updated - 11 April 2011. Or go thru the *labels sections in this same column to check out my previous visits to exhibitions, museums, historical places and zoos. I love these stuffs.

* labels linked to topics I blog before or you can find similar labels at bottom of each blog post.

Personalised Trooper Eddie

Derek Riggs was kind enough to accede to my humble request for a drawing of my favourite Eddie when I got the Hardcover version (now sold out) of his book..

Youtube Channel

Bootlegs of some live shows attended, scenes of live shows and Festivals, some frolicking animals at the zoo, travelling & other things...

The latest by me on some topics.

cds, dvds, concerts, merchandise, books, travelling, animals, zoos, nature,photography, leisure, food and everything else is ALL MIXED UP in this blog, these are some of my latest opinions on some of the topics, the rest YOU CAN go thru the labels section above.

Where Eagles Dare ( my other websites )

A Most Memorable Evening

It took me 25 years as a Maiden fan (83-08) to finally see them live with my better half by my side. Pathetic and embarassing as a loyal fan but I cant afford it before being in the wrong bloody continent. One of the great lessons in life, when you really want something, you have to put in much effort. It may look to be beyond your ability and reach, but sometimes dreams can come true. Mine did.

stranger in a strange land

ghost of the navigator

~ Mentally Yours ~

"I never went to college
I dont have a degree
Lets say I went to nite school
I learned all I know on the streets
I wasnt born a rich man
I aint got no pedigree
The sweat on this old collar
Thats my Ph.D."
In life, there are things that most people take for granted, but not for me but everyone has their stories.
My earthly pleasures are many but two more evil ones and the milestones are -
1979 - became a lifelong Arsenal fan because its the choice of either supporting the Gunners or The Red Devils and "as a young boy chasing dragons", devils are bad and the cannon looks pretty. Anyway, you can change your life, but you cant change your team. 1983 - listened to Iron Maiden's Piece Of Mind tape and the rest is a glorious history..
2008 - Pathetic and embarassing but thats the truth, I only got to see Maiden live in Perth for the first time in my life with my better half by my side. It means a lot to me. Fast forward to 2011, they played Singapore for their long suffering fans in South East Asia. I also managed to backpack to Australia to catch them again in a few places.
So not bad really, for a fan born in the ass of the world as far as being a Maiden fan is concerned.

Let me take you far away, You'd like a holiday..

Once in a blue moon and if we can save up a bit, we take the chance to get away out of Malaysia and Singapore and go to another place, and these are our adventures. Click Krabi's bamboo island beach above or check on the *labels section for the specific places. AND NOPE THAT IS NOT ME ABOVE LOL!!! I just like this photo...